Insight Seattle Guides

Bob Royer
We are excited and honored at Insight Cities to count Bob Royer among our guides. A former Deputy Mayor of Seattle and seasoned journalist covering state politics, Bob is a true son of Washington and its capital city, an involved citizen who loves to talk about Seattle and who guides local and visiting groups in his spare time. Those fortunate enough to tour with him will come to understand Seattle’s unique status as America’s pioneer city of innovation through the eyes of a formidable raconteur and engaged partisan. In addition to his service in public life and years in journalism, Bob is a longtime consultant on regional electricity issues and is currently Counsel at Gallatin Public Affairs, a Northwest public affairs firm, where he writes a blog thecascadiacourier.com in which he places current issues in their historical context. He is Chairman of the Board of the historylink.org , the brilliant on-line encyclopedia of the State of Washington written jointly by hundreds of regional experts and historians (a web resource that we at Insight Cities continuously learn from and hugely admire). Bob and his wife, Barbara, are also part-time students at the Northwest Wine Academy.

Christine Palmer
Christine Palmer earned a master’s degree in Public Historical Studies at UC Santa Barbara in 1990 after fifteen years of volunteer and academic experience in historic preservation. Her book, published in 1991, New Deal Adobe: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Reconstruction of Mission La Purisima, 1934-1942, is a compilation of documentary research and oral histories collected from veterans of the 1930s CCC who reconstructed the Mission La Purisima State Park. She has also been employed as staff for the Landmarks and Urban Conservation Commission for the City of Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1995, she began working for the King County, Washington Historic Preservation Program in Seattle to survey historic structures in suburban and rural communities. In 1997 she returned to Santa Barbara for employment as the City Historian where she staffed the City Historic Landmarks Commission and the Architectural Board of Review. As of 2005, she returned to Seattle to work as the Preservation Advocate for the nonprofit public development authority Historic Seattle. In 2008 she was employed as the consultant to the Landmark Preservation Board for the City of Bothell, Washington. By 2012 her vintage fashion addiction became full blown so she has volunteered many hours assisting to curate the apparel collection at Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry. In 2014 she was honored to be selected as the guest curator for the vintage shoe exhibit, “Sole Obsession,” at the White River Valley Museum in Auburn, Washington.